In the printing and graphics industry, webs of various types such as plastic films, paper, foil, cloth-backed tapes and label stock are prodded as roll-fed stock. It is common practice to unwind the web and slit or sever the web longitudinally into a plurality of webs of reduced or narrower width. The plurality of narrower webs are then re-wound on individual rolls which are provided to the user. The type of equipment used for this purpose are conventionally designated "slitters/rewinders" and various such deuces are on the market for converting almost any type of tape, label stock or flexible web material into narrower rolls. Typical of these types of devices are the slitter/rewinder devices manufactured by the Flexo-Printing Corporation of St. Paul, Minn. designated as Models R150, RT50, T301 and T302Another type of slitter/rewinder is designated the PIC Rewider Slitter and Label Inspector and is manufactured by PIC Industries of Fullerton, CA. Graphic Machine Ltd. of United Kingdom manufactures a slitter/rewinder designated the Omega 330 which is fitted with automatic tension control and a splicing table and includes an electronic web guidance system. Another conventional machine of this type is manufactured by Rotoflex Intl. which has electronic controls, provides a visual inspection station and facilitates various slitting and cutting methods such as scoring, shearing, razor cutting or die cutting.
While the foregoing devices are representative of slitters/rewinders currently available in the art, there nevertheless exists a need for an improved slitter/rewinder which is simple to operate, convenient to maintain and which is reliable and dependable.